Roads Less Travelled
by Goddessgrl6
Summary: Not everyone has a magical saviour who finds them in their time of need. Some people have to find their own way to their magical fairytale castle. Not all mutants were destined to be noticed. Even those who have the potential to become something great...
1. Chapter 1

"Get back here you bitch!" Quinn grabbed her little sister's hand and pulled her out the door, before hoisting the five year old onto her shoulders and continuing to run. She wold never stop, at least that was what she thought. She would never forgive her deadbeat parents for hitting Rylie. The little girl was crying her eyes out, holding one hand to her bruised face. Quinn was glad at that moment she was part of her school cross country team. She kept running, not even stopping when the sound of cursing had long faded into nothing. Only when she was out of breath after forty minutes of non-stop running did she finally stop. She let Rylie down from her shoulders and hunched over in an attempt to regain her breath. Rylie said nothing, still whimpering in pain. Her left cheek was swollen and she was shivering in the cold. Quinn hugged her little sister close. "It's alright Rylie, we're never going back there again. You don't have to worry about them anymore," Rylie wrapped her arms around her big sister's middle. "What is a bitch Quinny?" She asked, eyes wide. "A female dog." Quinn gave her sister a soft smile. "Why did daddy call you a dog, Quinny?" "It doesn't matter."

Quinn woke early the next morning, her sister clutched to her chest. They leaned against the back wall of a stranger's house. The sun had not yet come up, and the air was still freezing cold. Rylie shivered in her sleep and Quinn hugged her closer. As slowly as she could, Quinn got up onto her feet, Rylie still asleep in her arms. She walked down the street in the dark, sore from her running the night before. She knew there was a place for her, but was not sure how they would view her sister. Rylie was not a mutant. She had the potential to become one, but Quinn would never wish anything upon her sister. Rylie was her little angel, and that's how she would always be. If their birth mother could not be a caring woman, Quinn would be the mother that their mother was supposed to be. Quinn loved her little sister more than anything.

Quinn had not thought to pack anything before they left. It had been a sudden thing, not expected. Quinn had never planned to leave, no matter how abusive her parents had become towards her. But then again, she'd never planned on them hitting Rylie. Rylie let out a quiet snore, and Quinn couldn't help but chuckle. Then all of a sudden, she became serious. She laid her palm across the bruise on Rylie's face, to which she mewed in protest, and used her mutant power. She healed her sister, but in doing so, absorbed the damage onto herself. Her face swelled up, and she was hit by a sudden wave of nausea. But she didn't mind, upon seeing the creased look fade from her sister's face.

Her sister woke up a few minutes later, when the sun began to rise. She open her eyes sleepily. "Quinny, why is your face purple?" She asked, half awake. Quinn smiled down at her and lowered her shakily onto her feet but remained silent. "Where are we?" She looked around, her eyes now wide. "Remember I used to tell you about the castle with all the friendly monsters, Ri?" Rylie nodded her head. "That's where we're going Ri, where nobody can ever hurt us again." "Am I gonna be a princess, like in the story?" Quinn squeezed her sister's hand. "Of course Ri. You can be whatever you want to be."

The two of them walked hand in hand until Quinn found a map. She pointed to the little green dot on the map. "This is where we are, Ri." She then moved her hand to another spot, that didn't seem so far on the map. And this is where we need to get to." Rylie smiled. "Can we get some food? I'm hungry Quinny." Quinn went through her pockets and pulled out a small amount of money. They then walked into the closest fast food restaurant. She only had enough for one burger, and got the biggest one she could afford. She then split it in two and gave her sister the bigger half. Rylie chomped her's down in less than a minute, and out of love, Quinn gave Rylie the rest of her's.


	2. Chapter 2

They'd been walking all day down the streets when they encountered trouble. Quinn walked her sister down the wrong kind of street. It was deserted, and Quinn got the wrong kind of vibe from it, and she turned away to exit the street when she saw the man. He looked like a homeless man, but had a creepy smile upon his face. She gripped Rylie's hand tighter, and began to back away. "Hey pretty lady." After a few seconds, Quinn realised he was taking to Rylie not her. She spat in disgust at the man, but didn't take her eyes off him. He began to advance, and Quinn picked up her sister and ran. The man was faster, but Quinn ran as fast as she could before her pinned her to a wall and punched her in the face.

He ripped Rylie away from her but Quinn couldn't defend her sister, all she could do is lay on the floor as he pinned her wailing sister to the wall. Spots were floating around her vision. But before the man could try anything he was shoved away. A serpent man, or at least that was how Quinn saw him at the time, hissed and threw the creepy man away from her sister. "Men like you do not deserve to exist." He hissed, before he used one of his claws to slit the man's throat. Rylie ran over to Quinn, wailing uncontrollably. The serpent man walked towards Quinn and her sister once everything was settled. "Are you all right little girl?" He asked, sounding soft. Rylie ignored him. "Quinny! Wake up Quinny!" She screamed, tears pouring down her face. "Hush child. She is alright. Do not worry." He picked up Quinn with one of his arms, and offered his other hand to Rylie. She took it...

Quinn woke. She was laying on top of a hard concrete floor- she could feel it pressing against her back. She groaned, and turned onto her side, feeling a massive pounding headache surface. That is when it hit her that Rylie was nowhere near her. She shot up, eyes wide and heart racing. Her eyes scanned the enclosed space of the filthy room before her, and she got up to her feet. She ran towards the door and flung it open, searching intensely for her sister. All she found was a man with blood red eyes and pointed ears, guarding the outside of her room. "Where am I?" She asked. Sounding panicked. The vampire man gave her an amused look. "You are in what we call the 'Haven'. It is a safe place for those of us with physical..." he paused to find the right word, "...inconsistencies. Lenon brought you here after you were hurt." "Where is Rylie?!" She still searched madly. "Calm sister. The little girl is safe. She is with Elisa. I will bring you to her." Quinn calmed down a little, but still badly wanted to know if Rylie was alright. She followed the vampire man, who she later learnt his name was William, through the tunnels of the 'Haven' until they reached a door that looked identical to the rest. "This is Elisa's room. The little girl should be in here." William waited outside while Quinn pulled the door open in a rush to see her sister. Rylie looked up and squealed in happiness the minute she saw Quinn. "Quinny!" She shrieked, running into Quinn's arms. Quinn looked up at the other woman in the room, a feathered woman with beautiful black wings shooting from her back. She mouthed a thank you and bent down to check her sister.

"Did the bad man hurt you?" She asked Rylie, concern plastered across her strained features. "No. The green man saved me."


	3. Chapter 3

Once Quinn was healed, and both Quinn and Rylie had promised never to reveal the location of their safe haven, the mutants allowed Quinn and Rylie to leave. Quinn had thanked Lenon especially for saving Rylie, and promised him he would always have a place in her and Rylie's heart. He had blushed (which was surprisingly obvious on the scaled man) in reply. Quinn was much more careful after that. She made sure the two of them stuck to the more crowded streets at first, until it began to become obvious they were homeless. They were without proper clothes or a proper meal, and they soon began to resort to begging (carefully, since they didn't want to get noticed by child services) and rummaging through people's trash. It was not what Quinn wanted for her and her sister, but they had no choice. They were hungry, and lost. They had long since given up on the castle. They had lost their way.

"Do you see anything Ri?" Quinn stood outside the large big, glancing around nervously. "No." Rylie sounded upset. Quinn sighed and helped her sister out of the large bin. Then they quickly exited the alleyway. Only then did she sigh in relief. Neither of them were comfortable around alleyways anymore, and always tried to avoid them. But they were starving, and Quinn could see how's thin her sister was getting. She thought about their dream. The castle. Xavier's school. How she had been so confident they would make it their. But she had not seen a map for weeks, and had no idea where they were anymore. She'd given up. Yet there was some part of her that was still searching.

"I'm hungry Quinny!" Rylie whined. Quinn gave her sister a supportive smile. "Let's go check the next one then." "When are we gonna see our castle?" Quinn gave her sister a strange look. "You were talking about it Quinny." Quinn realised she had been talking aloud. She looked into the wide eyes of her beautiful, innocent sister. Her little brown ringlets were stained with dirt and god knows what else. She was also thin. Too thin. No child should starve to death on the streets. Quinn would never forgive herself if Rylie starved. "Soon, Ri. We'll make it. We just lost our way, that's all."

They spent the next morning searching everywhere for a map. They found one outside a tourist shop, and Quinn traced the city map onto a sheet of paper she had shoved into her pocket. She smiled at Rylie. "We've found our way Ri. We'll make it. " she told her sister. Rylie squealed in reply. "We can be princess's of the friendly monsters." She said in delight. Quinn was too tired to reply. She stayed awake most nights, watching over Rylie, and it was taking it's toll on her. She rarely spoke unless it was to cheer up Rylie. She stared down at the map in her hand, and took Rylie's hand.

They had only been walking for an hour when Quinn felt the full weight of her lack of sleep come crashing down on her. She yawned. "I'm gonna sleep, Ri. Wake me up if something happens." She exclaimed tiredly, before her eyelids closed. She heard Rylie's protest, somewhere beyond her, but was too tired to care. She fell asleep.

She awoke to a stranger staring down at her. "You're awake. Finally." Quinn felt a bit of annoyance at constantly waking up in strange places. But at least this time she had a proper bed. And it was clean. "Where am I now?" She asked groggily. "You passed out in the middle of the street miss. Your sister begged for help and you were brought here. I'm sorry we couldn't bring you to a hospital but your sister said you didn't like hospitals." A young woman announced "Where is Rylie?" "She's waiting outside. Would you like me to let her in?" "Yes." The stranger opened the door.

Quinn got out of bed and hugged her sister. "How are you Ri?" "Fine. The nice woman gave me some food." Quinn looked back at the woman and gave her a smile. She smiled back. "I think me and my sister should leave now. We've already overstayed our welcome." The woman's smile dropped. "Don't you think you should stay a little longer. You look like you need a little more rest. Quinn automatically had alarm bells ringing in her head. The woman seemed genuinely kind, so Quinn surmised she must have contacted social services. Her eyes widened and she ran, pulling her sister and her out of the house. She would never let them take Rylie from her.

The woman pursued, but she was not a fast woman. Quinn was scared, she ran for her life, feeling a wave of deja vu crash over her. She ran into alleyway after alleyway to escape the woman, until she heard the sound of fighting. Quinn knew what that meant, street fighting. Usually she avoided it like the plague, but if she went back she'd have no choice but face the woman, who was probably still searching for her. So she cautiously turned the corner. Two men circled each other in a wide chalk circle, surrounded by a ring of sick minded people, all cheering them on. It was a mutant street fight. One of the men hand spikes coming from his arms and legs, while the other seemed quite fine until he started to attack.

He was extremely heavy, and the floor shook beneath his weight. It was very obviously a mutation. The spike man shot forward, grabbing the heavy man with his spiked hands, to which the earthquake man roared in pain and punched the other man. And that was the fight over. The spike man crashed into the floor with a loud crack and ceased to move. An observer walked into the circle and checked the spiked man's pulse. "He's alive!" He announced, to which the crowd roared. "Rockfella wins!" Quinn felt sick. She didn't want to see any more. She tried to get passed the crowd, but was being pushed from all angles by annoyed onlookers. "Who dares to challenge the champion!" There was a brief silence, before Quinn was shoved into the centre. The minute she realised where she was, she felt like throwing up. "A challenge has been issued. You have a minute to say your prayer's Missy." The announcer chuckled. Quinn turned to look at Rylie. "Ri, I want you to wait around the corner where we were before. Cover your ears real hard alright. Can you do that for me?" Rylie nodded, terrified. Quinn pushed her away, and the crowd made way for the little girl.

Quinn turned to face her opponent. The man was easily twice her size, and there was no way he was going to take pity on her. He was smiling. "This'll be easy." He chucked. Quinn knew exactly what she'd have to do, and didn't like it one bit. "Times up! Ladies and gentlemen may the fight...BEGIN!"


	4. Chapter 4

The big man shot forward in an instant, throwing a punch at Quinn that she only barely managed to avoid. She was terrified, but what would happen to Rylie if she let her fear consume her. So she tried to control herself. She dodged his heavy punch after punch, gradually becoming more and more exhausted. Until she was too slow. His punch clipped her side, breaking one of her ribs and sending her crashing into the crowd of onlookers. Quinn screamed. The man, Rockfella, advanced toward her, and she knew she had to get up. She began to cough up blood, but got up anyway, trembling.

She received another blow, this time to her shoulder. She felt her arm go limp and she clenched her teeth. She knew she would not be able to withstand another blow, but she couldn't get up. She was more scared than she'd ever been in her life. She was gonna die. Suddenly he stood above her, chuckling. And then she threw his last punch. It slammed into her face with bone crushing force, and she held on only long enough to put her plan into motion. She healed herself. And in return the man received her injuries. She felt the pain slip away from her, and her bones slip back into place. She also heard his bloodcurdling scream before he dropped like a sack of potatoes. She got up onto her feet and spat put a handful of blood onto his limp body, before she felt her arm be lifted into the air. "Ladies and gentlemen...the winner!" There was chatter, and Quinn felt too out of it for conversation. She pushed through the crowd and retrieved her sister, who was crying heavily. "I heard you scream." She whispered. Quinn took her and her sister a way from there without another word. There was nothing to be said.


	5. Chapter 5

They were silent for an hour. They were both to shaken to talk. Quinn was still checking herself for her injuries, dazed by the extent of her abilities. Rylie was terrified to lose her big sister. She clutched Quinn's hand as tightly as she could. But eventually, it was her who brought up conversation. "I'm hungry." She whispered to her sister. Quinn, as if she had just noticed Rylie, looked down at her little sister. "Okay." She whispered back. And so they resumed their homeless act, Rylie going through the bins, while Quinn watched carefully for intruders. More than often they would be approached by other homeless people, who often tried to steal their food and territory. When Rylie found a pizza box, which was filled with half a cold pizza that somebody had obviously not been able to take, Quinn praised her sister for her effort and they began to eat. The pizza was disgusting, but Rylie and Quinn were too hungry to care. They dug in like starved animals until their was nothing left. It was the biggest meal they'd had for a week, and it left them feeling fulfilled.

They lay down to sleep, but as usual Quinn got none of it. She had not learnt from her mistakes because she needed to watch her sister. She tried to remain alert, but eventually she too fell asleep...

Quinn woke the next morning for once in the same spot. She wiped the embarrassing drool off the side of her mouth and looked down at the angel at her side. Her brown curls were a matted birds nest atop her head. Quinn couldn't help but feel that her red curls were in the same condition. Freckles littered Rylie's face, giving her a more innocent vibe. Quinn frowned though. Rylie's cheekbones were too prominent, and she was too thin. She didn't know how much longer they could live on the streets. She retrieved the crumpled paper from her pocket. *Our dream.* she scribbled down underneath it, using the pencil she had found in one of the first bins they had gone through.

_Our dream is a fairytale_

_A palace of monsters_

_Where monsters like me would be welcome_

_And angels like her would be accepted_

_Our dream is reachable_

_But not so much for us it seems_

_Without help from the other monsters in this world_

_we will surely perish_

_So help us find our dream_

_Quinn&Rylie_

She scribbled down the poem underneath. It seemed appropriate, to have it there. It was kind of funny. She had always hated poetry, but here she was writing one and pouring her heart into it. She crumpled the paper back up and shoved it back into her pocket, before waking up her sister. Rylie complained lazily about being woken, and Quinn laughed. And so began a other day.

Quinn pulled her sister to the edge of the forest. They had left the city a while back. They stopped at the entrance to the forest. "Through here," she told Rylie, "is our palace." Rylie seemed scared. "Can we go around it?" Quinn didn't want to enter it either, but they had no choice. "No. We have to go through it." Rylie put on her brave face. "Okay!" She said. "Okay." Quinn repeated, before the two off them stepped forward...

They slept in the forest that night. Up in a tree. Quinn stayed awake to make sure Rylie didn't fall out, relishing in the comfort of her sister sister's head against her stomach. Rylie snored slightly, making strange snorting noises in her sleep that made Quinn want to laugh. But that would wake Rylie up, which she didn't want. So she tried not to laugh. It seemed more peaceful in the forest than it had been in the city, but Quinn missed the it nevertheless. Quinn wondered about the future. She tried not to too much, because she wasn't sure what would become of them. But the glimmer of hope had made it to her heart. She saw an image of Rylie's hand in her's with them before a beautiful castle surrounded by mutants with arms all outstretched. She saw her and her sister stepping in their embrace. And she felt...comfortable.


End file.
